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[2008.05.31] Deadlock 阿根廷剑拔弩张

Argentina
阿根廷
Deadlock
剑拔弩张

May 29th 2008 | ROSARIO
From The Economist  print edition
2008年5月29日| 罗萨里奥
摘自《经济学人》印刷版

Angry farmers v an obstinate president
愤怒的农民PK固执的总统


Farmers, big and small, against taxes
农民老少争相反对征税

IN BRILLIANT autumn sunshine on May 25th, Argentina’s national day, some 200,000 people packed into a riverside plaza in Rosario, Argentina’s third city and its farm capital, in the largest anti-government rally in years. The crowd booed every mention of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, the president, and cheered the country’s farmers, who are protesting against her government’s decision to raise export taxes.
5 月25日是阿根廷的国庆节。此日秋高气爽，阳光明媚。约有20万人挤入罗萨里奥（阿根廷的第三大城市和阿根廷的农业首都）的一个河畔广场，组成近几年规模 最大的反政府集会。每当提及克里斯蒂娜总统的名字，人群便发出阵阵嘘声喝倒彩。集会的民众还在为阿根廷国内的农民欢呼雀跃，因为他们正在抗议克里斯蒂娜政 府关于提高出口税的决定。 继续阅读“[2008.05.31] Deadlock 阿根廷剑拔弩张”

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[2008.05.31] Japan and Africa 赶赴非洲为盛宴

Japan and Africa
日本与非洲
Catching up
赶赴非洲为盛宴

May 29th 2008 | TOKYO
From The Economist  print edition
2008年5月29日/东京
《经济学人》印刷版

It’s sushi for Africa’s leaders
为非洲领导人准备的寿司

THE copper is used in computers. The nickel is for batteries. Tungsten is used to fortify steel for cars. Japan buys much of its rare metal from China to feed its electronics and car industries. But as booming China has begun to close the spigot to safeguard its own supplies, Japan, the world’s second biggest economy, has been forced to look elsewhere for an alternative source—in Africa.
铜是制造电脑不可或缺的原料，镍可以用来造电池，钨可以使造车用的钢铁更坚 固。过去日本可以从中国进口大部分稀有金属来满足其电子和汽车工业的需要，但是当迅速发展的中国开始拧紧原材料出口的龙头来保障本国供给时，日本这个世界 第二大经济体不得不把目光转向其他地方以寻找替代来源——这个地方就是非洲。 继续阅读“[2008.05.31] Japan and Africa 赶赴非洲为盛宴”

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[2008.05.22] Tattoo you 潮流达人,你纹身了没?!

Body art
人体艺术
Tattoo you
潮流达人,你纹身了没?!

May 22nd 2008 | NEW YORK
From The Economist  print edition

Inked skin has gone mainstream
纹身艺术已经跻身主流文化之列

BTATTOOISTS masterfully etched Japanese-inspired fantasies and intricate tribal designs on to living bodies at the 11th annual New York City Tattoo Convention. The event, held over the weekend of May 16th-18th, drew the obvious burly biker and rockabilly types, but also a surprising number of families. Vegan O’Donnell, aged three, and her one-year-old brother Sidney watched as their mother got a tattoo on her torso. Josh Thompson, winner of “best overall tattooed person” at the convention, got his first tattoo, an eagle, in 1984, when he was 18. Today his whole body, bar face, neck and naughty bits, is covered with tattoos. Such dedication is no longer unusual.
在纽约召开的纹身体绘艺术展上，纹身艺术家们在现场大玩真人活体创 作，他们用娴熟的笔法在人体上生动地描绘了以日本文化为灵感的创作及某些神秘部落的复杂图腾。艺术展为期三天，从5月16日到18日，展会吸引了众多魁梧 彪悍的飞车迷和山区乡村摇滚乐的狂热拥趸；尽管艺术展恰逢周末召开，但是一众家庭的到来着实出乎人们的预料。3岁的维根.奥丹诺和1岁的弟弟西德尼正在一 旁观看他们的妈妈绘制纹身的过程，纹身技师正在这个女人的腹背两侧精心创作。本次展会的“最佳全身刺青”的获奖者是乔希.汤普森。自1984年，18的乔 希初试纹身,在身体上绘制了一只雄鹰后，时至今日，他除面颊，颈部和不宜纹身的部位外，全身遍布着各式各样的刺青图案。如此的献“身”之举早已司空见惯， 不足为奇了。 继续阅读“[2008.05.22] Tattoo you 潮流达人,你纹身了没?!”

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[2008.05.22] Indiana McCain rides again 印第安纳麦凯恩再次策马扬鞭

Lexington
列克星顿
Indiana McCain rides again
印第安纳麦凯恩再次策马扬鞭

May 22nd 2008
From The Economist print edition
2008年5月22日
经济学人印刷版

The Republican cannot dismiss the question of his age with a few jokes
麦凯恩的年龄问题并非是这位共和党人几句玩笑所能打消的。

JOHN McCAIN is a master of jesting about his advanced years. He says people only turn up to watch him to see if he needs a “drool cup”. He amusingly called a young voter who asked about his age a “little jerk”. On May 17th he appeared on “Saturday Night Live” to claim that “I have the courage, the wisdom, the experience and, most importantly, the oldness necessary.”
在拿自己的高龄开玩笑方面，约翰麦凯恩算得上一位行家里手。他说人们来看他只是想瞧瞧他是否需要一只 “口水杯’’ .他将一位询问他年龄的青年选民戏称为“小傻瓜”。5月17号，在 <<周六夜现场>>做节目时，他声称：“我拥有所必需的胆识，智慧，经验，更重要的是，我的岁数够大。” 继续阅读“[2008.05.22] Indiana McCain rides again 印第安纳麦凯恩再次策马扬鞭”

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[2008.05.22] Not yet a dream; no longer a nightmare 迷途已远，来者可追

Indonesia
印度尼西亚
Not yet a dream; no longer a nightmare
迷途已远，来者可追

May 22nd 2008 | JAKARTA
From The Economist print edition

A boom in satire marks a decade of sturdy democracy
政治讽刺的大潮标志着十年来民主的茁壮成长

AMIEN RAIS, a leader of the mass protest movement that brought down the authoritarian Suharto regime ten years ago this week, is being interrogated on a television satire show, “Republik Mimpi” (“Republic of Dreams”) by two impressionists dressed as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his vice-president, Jusuf Kalla. “Why is your new book called ‘Save Indonesia’?” harrumphs the fictional vice-president, “Don’t you think we are already doing everything possible to save it?” The studio audience titters. Moments later, tvOne, the station airing the show, cuts in with an apt but genuine news flash about big demonstrations erupting against the decision by the real-life president and his deputy to slash fuel subsidies, to save the country from financial ruin.
AMIEN RAIS是印尼群众抗议运动的领导人，十年前的这个星期正是他把独裁者苏哈托拉下了台。此刻他正在参加一个电视政治讽刺节目——“满怀梦想的共和国”，节 目的主角是两个穿着像总统苏西洛和副总统Jusuf Kalla的模仿者。“副总统”低声下气的问：“为什么你的新书叫拯救印尼?难道你不认为我们为了拯救它已经采取了一切可能的措施吗？”。场下的观众暗自 发笑，就在此时电视台把镜头切入一个做得很逼真的新闻flash短片，内容是关于抵制现实生活中的总统和他的副手作出的削减石油补助以避免财政破产决定的 大型示威游行。 继续阅读“[2008.05.22] Not yet a dream; no longer a nightmare 迷途已远，来者可追”

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[2008.05.22] Testing the teachers 测验教师

Education in Mexico
墨西哥教育
Testing the teachers
测验教师

May 22nd 2008 | MEXICO CITY
2008年5月22日 墨西哥城
From The Economist print edition
摘自《经济学人》印刷版

An attempt to tame the teachers’ union
驯服教师工会的一次尝试

IT IS perhaps the hardest reform of all. Pension systems or energy shortages can be fixed by cutting entitlements or spending more. But no amount of money can in itself make a million qualified teachers materialise in less than a generation. That is the aim of the “Alliance for Educational Quality” launched by Felipe Calderón, Mexico’s president, this month. To signal its importance, he gathered together much of his cabinet for the signing ceremony on May 15th. The document his pen hovered over was not a new law, but rather an agreement with Elba Esther Gordillo, head of the national teachers’ union.
这或许是一次举步为 艰的改革。养老金制度或能源短缺都可通过削减权利或剧增开支来加以完善。不过，大量钱财并不能使100万名合格的教师在不到一代的时间内成为现实。这就是 墨西哥总统卡尔德龙(Felipe Calderón) 在本月发起“教育质量联盟”的目的。为显示这一联盟的重要性，卡尔德龙总统在5月15日召集多数内阁成员出席了签字仪式。事实上，刚刚签署的这份文件并非 新法，而是同全国教师工会会长戈迪略女士（Elba Esther Gordillo）达成的一个协议。 继续阅读“[2008.05.22] Testing the teachers 测验教师”

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[2008.05.22] Whether or when to cut 德国税收热议

Germany’s tax debate
德国税收争论
Whether or when to cut
税收热议

May 22nd 2008 | BERLIN
From The Economist print edition

An argument about tax cuts causes divisions within as well as between parties
一场关于减税的争论不仅在党际，而且在党内造成了分歧

GERMANY’S grand coalition is supposedly a union of the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) and their left-leaning foes, the Social Democrats (SPD). Lately, it has been more like an irascible marriage between those who wish to cut taxes fast and those who do not. Most CDU deputies in the Bundestag want tax cuts. The SPD chief, Kurt Beck, even says his party will cook up cuts of its own. But barring the way are the CDU chancellor, Angela Merkel, and the SPD finance minister, Peer Steinbrück. They want to keep a promise to balance the federal budget by 2011. Tax cuts in this parliament? “Not while I’m around,” growls Mr Steinbrück.
德国的大联合政府一般认为是中间偏右的基督教民主联盟（CDU）和他们的左派对手社会民主党（SPD）的联合。但最近，这 个政府变得更像是减税支持者和反对减税者之间暴躁的联姻。众议院的大部分CDU成员希望减税。SPD领导科特贝克甚至说要设计他们自己的减税方案。但是挡 在他们前面的是CDU成员首相安吉拉默克尔，和SPD成员财政部长施泰因布吕克。他们想在2011年之前恪守平衡联邦预算的承诺。在这届议会减税？“只要 我在就别想，”施泰因布吕克吼道。 继续阅读“[2008.05.22] Whether or when to cut 德国税收热议”